Living dinosaurs in South America
discovering large, dinosaur-like footprints in the Amazon, by his son Brian Fawcett.]] Rumours of huge, amphibious beasts which some have speculated may be living dinosaurs have been sporadically reported from South America since the 19th Century, alongside much rarer reports of bipedal dinosaur-like animals. Other than the stoa and suwa, no native names for these animals are known. Although often described as living dinosaurs, these cryptids have also been identified with living toxodonts by some.Rough Draft of Amendments to Cryptozoological Checklist located online Supposed living dinosaurs have been reported from , , and , and the area with the most sightings seems to be the remote border region between Bolivia and Brazil.Shuker, Karl (1995) In Search of Prehistoric Survivors Sightings 1882 A mysterious dinosaur-like animal was allegedly killed shortly before July 1883 on the Río Beni, in the El Beni Department of Bolivia, after being shot thirty-six times. Its body was dried and preserved in Asuncion before allegedly being sent to La Paz by order of the President of Bolivia (Narciso Campero). Photographs of drawings of the animal are said to have been sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Brazil from the Brazilian Minister at La Paz."A Bolivian Saurian", Scientific American 49 Number 1 (1883) A Professor Gilveti examined the animal, and believed it to be "a member of a rare or almost lost species, as the Indians in some parts of Bolivia use small earthen vases of identical shape, and probably copied from nature". Although George Eberhart lists it as a living dinosaur, not all of its traits were saurian, and Karl Shuker describes it as an ultra-mysterious beast.Shuker, Karl (1997) From Flying Toads to Snakes with Wings circa 1910's and 1920's 1907 Explorers Franz Herrmann Schmidt and Rudolph Pfleng claimed to have encountered an enormous, aquatic, dinosaur-like monster in a swampy area in the forested swamps of Loreto Department, Peru:Prehistoric Monsters in Jungles of the Amazon, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Weekly Sentinel, Feb. 8, 1911 :"One of the excited Indians began to paddle the boat away from the shore, and before we could stop him we were one hundred feet from the waterline. Now we could see nothing and the Indians absolutely refused to put in again, while neither Pfleng nor myself cared to lay down our rifles to paddle. There was a great waving of plants and a sound like heavy slaps of a great paddle, mingled with the cries of some of the monkeys moving rapidly away from the lake. One or two that were hurt or held fast wore shrieking close at hand, then their cries ceased. For a full ten minutes there was silence, then the green growth began to stir again, and coming back to the lake we beheld the frightful monster that I shall now describe. :"The head appeared over bushes ten feet tall. It was about the size of a beer keg and was shaped like that of a tapir, as if the snout was used for pulling things or taking hold of them. The eyes were small and dull and set in like those of an alligator. Despite the half dried mud we could see that the neck, which was very snakelike, only thicker in proportion, as rough knotted like an alligator's sides rather than his back. :"Evidently the animal saw nothing odd in us, if he noticed us, and advanced till he was not more than one hundred and fifty feet away. We could see part of the body, which I should judge to have been eight or nine feet thick at the shoulders, if that word may be used, since there were no fore legs, only some great, heavy clawed flippers. The surface was like that of the neck. For a wonder the Indians did not bolt, but they seemed fascinated. :"As far as I was concerned, I would have waited a little longer, but Pfleng threw up his rifle and let drive at the head. I am sure that he struck between the eyes and that the bullet must have struck something bony, horny or very tough, for it cut twigs from a tree higher up and further on after it glanced. I shot as Pfleng shot again and aimed for the base of the neck. :"The animal had remained perfectly still till now. It dropped its nose to the spot at which I had aimed and seemed to bite at it, but there was no blood or any sign of real hurt. As quickly as we could fire we pumped seven shots into it, and I believe all struck. They seemed to annoy the creature but not to work any injury. Suddenly it plunged forward in a silly, clumsy fashion. The Indians nearly upset the dugout getting away, and both Pfleng and I missed the sight as it entered the water. I was very anxious to see its hind legs, if it had any. I looked again only in time to see the last of it leave the land—a heavy blunt tail with rough horny lumps. The head was visible still, though the body was hidden by the splash. From this instant's opportunity I should say that the creature was thirty-five feet long, with at least twelve of this devoted to head and neck. :"In three seconds there was nothing to be seen except the waves of the muddy water, the movements of the waterside growth and a monkey with its hind parts useless hauling himself up a tree top. As the Indians paddled frantically away I put a bullet through the poor thing to let it out of its misery. We had not gone a hundred yards before Pfleng called to me and pointed to the right. :"Above the water an eighth of a mile away appeared the head and neck of the monster. It must have dived and gone right under us. After a few seconds' gaze it began to swim toward us, and as our bullets seemed to have no effect we took to flight in earnest. Losing sight of it behind an island, we did not pick it up again and were just as well pleased. :"Since it was apparent that our Remingtons, heavy enough to drop a lion or an elephant in its tracks, were no defence at all against such animals as we had seen, and from the tracks we had reason to suppose there were larger ones in the region, the wisest thing for us to do was to be content, move on as soon as possible, and return with a rapid fire gun or something like that. Also it, would have been impossible to got the Indians into the dugout again even with a gun muzzle at their heads." 1931 Swedish explorer Harald Westin claimed that in 1931, he saw a 20-foot lizard walking along the shore of the Rio Mamore, near the border of Brazil and Bolivia. According to Westin, the animal had an alligator-like head, four legs on which it walked quadrupedally, and a body like a distended boa constrictor.Westin, Harald (1933) Tjugu ars djungel - och tropikliv circa 1960's Sebastian Bastos, who was hired by a Swiss businessman as a guide in 1975, claimed that several years earlier, he had survived an attack by an 18 foot long animal which was known to overturn canoes and kill humans.Liverpool Daily Post, January 3, 1976. Notes and references Dinosaurs, living, in South America Dinosaurs, living, in South America Dinosaurs, living, in South America Dinosaurs, living, in South America Dinosaurs, living, in South America Dinosaurs, living, in South America Dinosaurs, living, in South America